Zurich-based catastrophe insurance data provider PERILS has provided for the first time insurance industry loss estimates from extratropical Storm Goretti, which affected southwestern England, northern France and Belgium on January 8-9, 2026, costing €467 million.
PERILS estimates of insurance market losses from Storm Goretti, also known as Elli, are based on loss data collected from affected insurers. This preliminary estimate covers real estate and automotive operations, based on Europe’s PERILS insurance coverage definition.
Luzi Hitz, PERILS Product Manager, commented: “Storm Goretti is the first European storm event of the 2025/26 season, with a capture threshold of €300 million for any one country or €500 million for Europe-wide events.
“Its strong wind field covered almost the entire English Channel and affected surrounding areas. With the exception of Cornwall and the Channel Islands, the UK was largely unaffected. If the storm had been further north it would have been a more impactful event and the damage would have been higher.”
She continued: “France, however, was not so lucky, with damaging winds affecting almost the entire northern half of the country. This is why the vast majority of Goretti losses (nearly 75%) occurred in France. In contrast, Belgium was only slightly affected.”
Goretti marks Europe’s biggest storm event loss so far in the 2025/26 season. The vent was named “Goretti” by Météo-France and “Elli” by Freie Universität Berlin.
It was a multifaceted European winter storm that produced record-breaking wind gusts, huge waves, as well as rain, snow and ice.
The Gatville lighthouse, located at the tip of the Cotentin peninsula in the Manche department, measured a wind gust of 213 km/h.
According to PERILS, Goretti’s impact is “exceptional” at a local level, but not unusual from a Europe-wide perspective, where losses from storm events of this magnitude are observed every year.
From a meteorological perspective, the event was characterized by explosive cyclogenesis and an atmospheric phenomenon known as the “sting jet.” The latter caused strong winds in a narrow corridor, affecting Cornwall in the southwestern tip of England, the Channel Islands, and the departments of Manche and Calvados in northwestern France.
